What Is Rehabilitation Nutrition?
Rehabilitative nutrition is a similar diet that's specific for the sportsman except for the fact it includes the factors like presence or absence of muscle weakness and the ability or difficulty in swallowing food. Rehabilitative nutrition is based on the energy requirement of the body to return to a pre-injury state, the main aim being to gain muscle mass without the excess fat deposition in the body. Optimum energy is required to tackle inflammation, which requires proteins, carbohydrates, and micronutrients in equal proportion.
What Are the Factors Affecting Rehabilitative Nutrition?
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Type of Injury - Sports-related severe injuries and the fear of getting back are critical barriers to rehabilitation. The more severe the injury, the more specific the nutrition for rehabilitation is required. Having poor post-surgical nutrition may result in delayed and inadequate healing. It results in complications like recurrence, infections, and prolonged bed riddance. Hence, specific intervention techniques that include mostly the macronutrients combined with the training that helps in long-term endurance and resistance are taken up.
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Energy Requirements After Injury - The energy requirements after injury are very prominent and particular. Since the athlete is rendered inactive physically, their energy requirements are also decreased. This tends to decrease the dietary intake of protein, and the athlete fails to take up the recommended protein that is needed to maintain muscle mass. On the contrary, the excess energy provision to the body results in fat deposition rather than strengthening the muscles. Hence, elevating the protein intake to 2.0 kg/per day, along with endurance exercise and resistance training, is obligatory to prevent excess energy from transforming into fat deposits.
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Diet to Compensate and Prevent Muscle Death - Muscle death in athletes due to inactivity results in anabolic resistance, which means a decrease in protein synthesis that contributes to the death of muscle mass. The type, time, quantity, and quality of protein intake are very important for energy and preventing anabolic resistance. The 8 % muscle death (which is called atrophy) leads to a 25 % reduction in muscle strength. Hence, it is observed that a higher inclusion of protein in diet during rehabilitation prevents muscle weakness and muscle death. Milk-related products have been observed to be very beneficial to compensate for muscle atrophy. Supplements of suboptimal protein intake with leucine are very effective.
What Nutrients Are Helpful During Sports Rehabilitation?
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Proteins - A higher protein intake has been associated with muscle mass retention. Also, it has been noted that the excess of protein is very minimally transformed into fat. This makes protein the nutrient of choice during the rehabilitation. Consumption of whey protein exclusively leads to a greater rate of muscle protein synthesis(MPS). The consumption of protein two hours after dinner and 30 minutes prior to sleep has been found to improve muscle protein synthesis. Hence, during recovery, taking adequate protein with diet and supplementation along the plan for slowly and rapidly digested proteins.
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Carbohydrates - Carbohydrates play a role indirectly in sports rehabilitation. Although the role of carbohydrates is not clear, it has been seen low carbohydrates are responsible for increased protein breakdown, resulting in decreased muscle.
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Fats - Fish oil-derived omega-3 fatty acid supplements are very beneficial for rehabilitation. These fats have anti-inflammatory effects, which are crucial for healing,
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Fibre - Fibre is essential for rehabilitation. The inactivity leads to weight gain. The diet that is taken in an inactive state needs to be regularly flushed out the toxins. The inactivity also leads to constipation; hence, to keep the bowel in check and prevent constipation, fiber should be included effortlessly in the diet.
There are some nutrients that are useful for healing and rehabilitation.
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Vitamin A - It enhances the cell development and boosts the immunity.
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Vitamin C - It is mostly helpful in reducing inflammation and wound healing.
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Vitamin D - It is beneficial for bone health and increases the intake of calcium from the diet for disposal.
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Calcium - It is needed for the formation of bone, and it is responsible for repairing broken bones.
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Magnesium - It plays an important role in protein synthesis, hence maintaining muscle mass. It is responsible for the absorption of vitamin D and calcium.
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Zinc - It acts as a potent anti-inflammatory and hence acts as an important part of healing tissue repair.
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Silicon - It has a role in bone formation
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Iron - It is a great source of energy. It helps to lower the fatigue.
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Collagen - It is a primary factor in protein synthesis. It is very important for joints, bones and strong muscles.
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Omega 3 Fatty Acids - It is anti-inflammatory and helps in the absorption of other nutrients.
All diets that have a high quantity of unsaturated fatty acids should be avoided. Junk food like pasta, burgers, pizza, white bread, and high-starch white rice should be restricted in your daily consumption. Green leafy vegetables, which are rich sources of fiber, fish that are the source of omega-3 fatty acids, berries rich in antioxidants, and dry fruits like walnuts and peanuts, and fruits like apples, bananas, papaya, kiwis should be included in the daily portions of the diet. This helps to boost the rehabilitation owing to the presence of micro and macronutrients.
Conclusion
The diet during rehabilitation plays a very critical role. Although it is very important to consume a proper diet for maintaining good muscle mass, it is more important to check that the diet is not making the athlete overweight as the activity is reduced to a large extent. Hence, a knowledgeable dietician who is well versed in the particularities of the sports that an athlete plays and customizes the diet plan according to his /her needs is obligatory. The strategies that are applied during the recovery phase include nutrition as an important factor in improving the conditions for the body and fastening the return to play.
Diet during rehabilitation should consider the doses, type of sport, type of injury, and intensity of injury, and a monitored evaluation should be followed so as to avoid any unnecessary diet supplementations, more specifically for vitamin D, calcium, and omega 3 fatty acids. Hence, it becomes important both during exercise and rehabilitation to maintain an adequate amount of nutrition to keep the body sound and capable of playing without feeling burnt out and fatigued.
